NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday. The firm set a “buy” rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on NS. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded NuStar Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $20.00) on shares of NuStar Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of NuStar Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of NuStar Energy in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.33.

NuStar Energy Price Performance

Shares of NS opened at $22.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39 and a beta of 1.70. NuStar Energy has a fifty-two week low of $14.70 and a fifty-two week high of $24.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.76, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average is $23.09 and its 200-day moving average is $20.28.

NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.11. NuStar Energy had a return on equity of 107.61% and a net margin of 16.75%. The firm had revenue of $451.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that NuStar Energy will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NS. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 30.0% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 19,865,418 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $346,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,586,344 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. increased its stake in shares of NuStar Energy by 319.6% in the third quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 2,316,768 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,404,000 after buying an additional 1,764,573 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NuStar Energy in the third quarter valued at $19,941,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of NuStar Energy by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,112,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $114,184,000 after buying an additional 1,086,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of NuStar Energy by 47.4% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,149,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $37,490,000 after buying an additional 691,604 shares in the last quarter. 63.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About NuStar Energy

NuStar Energy L.P. engages in the transportation, terminalling, and storage of petroleum products and renewable fuels, and transportation of anhydrous ammonia in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Pipeline, Storage, and Fuels Marketing. The Pipeline segment engages in the transportation of refined products, crude oil, and anhydrous ammonia.